Les Unwanted de Europa (Italian: Gli indesiderati d'Europa) is a 2018 Spanish-Italian historical black and white film directed by Fabrizio Ferraro.
The film depicts the final journey of philosopher Walter Benjamin across the Pyrenees in September 1940, during which Benjamin was guided by Lisa Fittko along a trail (the Route Lister) along which Catalans and internationalist militants had previously fled the Franco regime into France during the Spanish Civil War; six months after, Benjamin was amongst the first of a number of groups of Jews, communists and dissidents fleeing Nazi-occupied France into Spain. Upon arrival in Portbou, the Spanish police threatened to turn back the refugees, and Benjamin committed suicide overnight. The film does not show his death, instead depicting the journey itself in the style of Slow Cinema, with minimal dialogue (selections from Benjamin's writings and conversations between the travellers, as well as between Benjamin and a librarian at the Bibliothèque Nationale, discussing Nietzsche) and sporadic use of music (by John Cage). Benjamin's journey is intercut with a journey along the reverse route by three anti-fascist militiamen in February 1939. [1] The film ends with Benjamin calling out "Blanqui! Blanqui! Talk to me, I'm listening! I hear you" and a long, unmoving shot of Benjamin asleep on the ground.
The film stars Euplemio Macrì as Walter Benjamin and Catarina Wallenstein as Lisa Fittko. Author, musician and artist Pau Riba also features as one of the militiamen. Dialogue is predominantly French, including selections from Benjamin's writings, as well as Catalan and German. Music selections are taken from John Cage's Quartets.
The film was shot in Lazio, Italy; Barcelona, Spain; Banyuls-sur-Mer, Pyrénées-Orientales, France; Portbou, Girona, Catalonia, Spain; and La Vajol, Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
The film premiered on 26 January 2018 at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. It was subsequently released on 24 April 2018.
The film is an Italian-Spanish co-production between Passepartout, Eddie Saeta and Rai Cinema, in collaboration with the Jean Vigo-Cinémathèque Euro-regional Institute of Perpignan. [2]
The film has received a relatively limited theatrical release, though it was shown on the streaming website MUBI in January 2019. It has received some critical discussion in Italian-language film journals, notably by critic Valerio Carando, who praises Ferraro's use of "openings, uncertainties, those that for institutional cinema are only imperfections, fragility to be discarded." [3] Meanwhile, academic and critic Roberto Pittaluga discusses the film in the context of the European migrant crisis and the rise of Fascism in the 21st century, as well as Benjamin's own thought, writing: "Les unwanted de Europa is a film about migration and exile at the time they happen, neither before nor after but in that time and that space between, the spacetime of the no longer and the not yet. And Ferraro intends, in a very Benjaminian way, to show that time and that space." [4]
Vittorio De Sica was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement.
Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such as Rome, Open City (1945), Paisan (1946), and Germany, Year Zero (1948).
Laurette Marcia Gemser is an Indonesian-Dutch retired actress, model and costume designer. She is primarily known for her work in Italian erotic cinema, most notably the Emanuelle series. Many of her films were collaborations with directors Joe D'Amato and Bruno Mattei.
Giuseppe Avati, better known as Pupi Avati, is an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known to horror film fans for his two giallo masterpieces, The House with Laughing Windows (1976) and Zeder (1983).
My Voyage to Italy is a personal documentary by acclaimed Italian-American director Martin Scorsese. The film is a voyage through Italian cinema history, marking influential films for Scorsese and particularly covering the Italian neorealism period.
Catherine Spaak was an actress and singer who acted in mostly in Italian films with some Hollywood and international productions. She is best known for her roles in the films Il Sorpasso (1962), The Empty Canvas (1963) and The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971).
Alessandro Blasetti was an Italian film director and screenwriter who influenced Italian neorealism with the film Quattro passi fra le nuvole. Blasetti was one of the leading figures in Italian cinema during the Fascist era. He is sometimes known as the "father of Italian cinema" because of his role in reviving the struggling industry in the late 1920s.
Walter Annicchiarico, known as Walter Chiari[ˈvalter ˈkjaːri], was an Italian stage and screen actor, mostly in comedy roles.
Omero Antonutti was an Italian actor and voice actor.
Fernando Di Leo was an Italian film director and script writer. He made 17 films as a director and about 50 scripts from 1964 to 1985.
Fabrizio Gatti is an Italian investigative journalist and author. He writes for the Italian weekly l'Espresso and his reportage and undercover investigations have been translated all over the world.
Roberto Herlitzka is an Italian theatre and film actor of Czechoslovak descent. He has appeared in 38 films since 1973. He was born in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. In 2004 he won the David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actor and Nastro d'Argento for Best Actor for his role in Good Morning, Night.
Maurizio Arena was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1952 and 1978.
Duccio Tessari was an Italian director, screenwriter and actor, considered one of the fathers of Spaghetti Westerns.
Giorgio Ardisson, best known as George Ardisson, was an Italian actor.
Fabrizio Mobrici, known by his stage name Fabrizio Moro, is an Italian singer-songwriter. He released his debut album in 2000 and he achieved commercial success in 2007, after winning the Newcomers' Section of the Sanremo Music Festival with his entry "Pensa". The song became a number-one hit in Italy, while the album with the same title was certified gold by the Italian Music Industry Federation.
I Am Afraid is an Italian crime film directed by Damiano Damiani.
Riccardo Salvino is an Italian film and television actor.
Antonio Diodato, known simply as Diodato, is an Italian singer-songwriter. He won the 70th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Fai rumore" and was scheduled to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, before the event's cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fabrizio De Angelis is an Italian director, screenwriter and producer.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link)